Video Game /
Dragon Ball Heroes

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Dragon Ball Heroes is a Japanese arcade carddass game developed by Dimps, released on November 11, 2010.

The game allows the usage of many characters from the Dragon Ball franchise, as well as new characters and transformations, in 5-on-5 turn-based battles by using special trading cards made for the carddass arcade machines. It also lets you choose one of 21 avatar characters from 7 different character types. (Male Saiyan, Female Saiyan, Majin, Namekian, Freeza Race, Android, Supreme Kai and Dark Demon God). The game has undergone several name changes over time, including Galaxy Mission (covering the first half of Dragon Ball GT), Jyakuryuu Mission (focusing on the Shadow Dragon Saga from GT), God Mission (which seems to be mostly drawing from Dragon Ball Online, Dragon Ball Xenoverse and Dragon Ball Super), Dark Demon Realm Mission (A new storyline feature characters from Xenoverse searching for Dark Dragon Balls), and most recently Universe Mission (What appears to be a sequel to Future Trunks story from Dragon Ball Super). The game has been ported thrice to the Nintendo 3DS as the Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission series and has four spin-off manga, Victory Mission, Charisma Mission, Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Dark Demon Realm Mission and Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Universe Mission.

In late 2016, the game has been updated to "Super Dragon Ball Heroes", with huge 7-vs-7 battles, updated graphics and more input using a lower touch screen. Here is the first trailer of Super DBH. And as of April 2019, Super Dragon Ball Heroes has also been ported over to the Nintendo Switch and Steam with the subtitle World Mission, and was released worldwide.

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This video game contains examples of:

Adapted Out: Despite the game adapting everything under the sun in the franchise, Goku Jr. and Vegeta Jr. are not in the game yet.

The vast majority of the participants introduced in the Tournament of Power have yet to appear- currently, only Bergamo, Ganos, Obuni, Ribrianne, Anilaza, Dyspo, Toppo, and Jiren are playable.

Adaptational Badass: Invoked as this is a fanservice game: Many characters get transformations they did not have in canon, such as almost every Saiyan Character getting Super Saiyan 3, Gohan and Broly getting Super Saiyan 4, Cooler getting a Golden Form (a gold version of his fifth form, no less, as his Cool Mask is just too iconic to pass up),Dabura and Towa becoming Demon Gods... the list goes on.

Alternate Self: The Time Patrol versions of the DBZ cast are this, coming from timelines other than the ones seen in the anime. For example, Xeno Goku's timeline includes Dragon Ball GT and some of the DBZ movies, but pointedly doesn't include Dragon Ball Super. He underwent the Super Saiyan God ritual at some pointnote Though it's unclear if this means his timeline includes Battle of Gods or if he attained the form under different circumstances but didn't internalize the energy, meaning his strongest form is Super Saiyan 4 and he didn't even know Super Saiyan Blue existed until he met canon!Goku.

Amplifier Artifact: In Super Dragon Ball Heroes, Towa crafts a set of Dark Dragon Balls that have the power to embed themselves in the bodies of evil beings and give them a substantial power-up. The villains who benefit from this are Frieza, Cell, Kid Buu, Turles, Janemba, Lord Slug, and Broly.

Assist Character: Super DBH added a fourth class of character, Special, who don't participate directly in combat but buff the rest of the team. These characters are generally non-combatants like Teen Bulma, Gine, and Zen-O.

A second class of Special applies to giant characters who take their own turn fighting. This list includes all Great Apes, Hirudegarne, Anilaza, and Dr. Wheelo.

Badass Longcoat: Seems to be part of the Time Patrol's standard uniform, as Xeno Trunks, Gohan, and Goten all sport these. Goku and Vegeta don't at first, but add them to their normal Xeno outfitsnote A martial arts outfit with a long robe for Goku and the Time Breaker version of the Saiyan armor for Vegeta during Universe Mission 3 — ironically, Gohan and Goten stop wearing the coats at the same time.

Evil Counterpart: Super Dragon Ball Heroes sees Towa getting a set of Dark Dragon Balls thanks to a mind-controlled Dende. They're blood red with black stars, scatter throughout time rather than space, and can merge with evil beings to make them more powerful. Naturally they come with a Dark Shenron.

Fanservice: The game's huge cast of characters, including many obscure picks even the most dedicated fan would forget.

Gotta Catch Them All: There's currently over 3000 cards made for the game so far, with many of them being variations for the same character or transformation with slight differences in appearance and gameplay.

In the game, there's the dragon balls to collect to summon a dragon for a wish, either of the Earth, Namekian, Black-Star and Super varieties. The first arc of Super Dragon Ball Heroes has the Time Breakers trying to recover the Dark Dragon Balls so Mechikabula can restore his youth and power, while the Time Patrol tries to stop them.

Loads and Loads of Characters: This game has one of the biggest rosters of any Dragon Ball game to date, with over 200 characters not including transformations, and it'll keep getting bigger with every update!

Luck-Based Mission: The game's gameplay is essentially turn-based battles with luck-based mechanics and stat boosting items to keep the fight going, also being able to summon certain characters to the battle if luck's on your side.

Original Generation: The player avatars, which can be Saiyan (male or female), Namekian, Frieza Race, Majin, Android, Shinjinnote the race of the Kais, or Dark Demon Godnote the race of Demigra and his allies.

A good deal of the content following Online is this, including Gravy and Putine (Demigra's allies during his previous attempt to conquer the Heavenly Realm), Mechikabura (Towa and Dabura's grandfather), Salsa (an ally of Towa and Dabura's), Shroom (the Grim Reaper of the Demon Realm), Time Patrol versions of the main Saiyan heroes, and Dark Dragon Balls which have the ability to merge with evil beings and power them up.

Rule of Cool: A lot of things in Heroes simply flat out don't make sense, but are otherwise pretty cool. For example, several fused characters get accessories to their outfits beyond the standard "vest and parachute pants" costume granted by Metamoran Fusion.

Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny: Besides all the gameplay examples, Super Dragon Ball Heroes starts off by pitting Super Saiyan 4 Xeno Goku against Super Saiyan BlueDBS Goku. In the arcade game, it's close and he holds his own for awhile, but Xeno Goku tires out first and concedes that Blue is more powerful than him. In the anime, they're evenly matched and call off the fight when they realize the other isn't the enemy. In the manga the fight gets interrupted but both were evenly matched. And now, during the story mission of World Mission Xeno Goku and Xeno Vegeta easily defeat their DBS counterparts, forcing them to fuse into Vegito Blue to avoid losing

What If?: A large part of the game's appeal (especially to Western fans who can't play it) is how much it indulges in this trope:

Most common is giving canon characters new levels of power. As of SDBH Universe Mission Set 4 (September 2018)...

Gohan, Broly, and Bardock have all achieved Super Saiyan 4.

Vegeta (Saiyan Saga, Majin, GT and Xeno), Trunks (Future, GT, and Xeno), Gogeta (regular and Xeno), Vegetto, Raditz, and Nappa have all achieved Super Saiyan 3note Xeno Vegeta and Gogeta have also been given Super Saiyan 4 forms, but they already achieved those in GT.

Xeno Vegetto can use Kaioken and Super Saiyan at the same time, something which Super said should be impossible. He differs from his canon counterpart by using Super Saiyan 4, since his component forms never achieved the godly transformations.

Xeno Goten gets the "Ultimate" potential unlock from the Elder Kai.

Pikkon has a "Super Pikkon" form in which he wears clothing like the South Kai.

Demigra has a "Demonic Enhancement" form, resembling his normal self with elements of his monstrous final form from the first Xenoverse.

Mira has a "Runaway" state and an equivalent to Super Saiyan, as well as his Towa absorption "final form" from Xenoverse 2.

Towa has a "Darkness" form and (along with her brother Dabura) got upgraded to Demon Gods by their grandfather Mechikabula.

The Supreme Kai of Time has a "Power of Time Unleashed" form, where she becomes an adult and gains a halo like Fused Zamasu.

Dr. Gero perfected his control over the Androids, letting him mind control them into obedience.

Most of the DBZ movie villains (Garlic Jr., Turles, Lord Slug, Super Android 13, Hatchiyack, Bojack, Super Janemba, Broly, Hirudegarn and most of their henchmen) get Majin power-ups from Babidi and becoming "Kings of Destruction".

The Dark Dragon Balls conferred transformations upon the villains bonded with them: Cell became Cell-X from Online, Turles went out of control, Janemba became an Evil Demon, and Lord Slug became giant and merged with the Earth itself.

Cooler gaining a Golden form just like his brother.

Goku driven insane by Kanba's aura and becoming Super Saiyan Berserk.

Also common are new fusions/combinations:

Gotenks is given an adult formnote Goten and Trunks discussed fusing in GT, but never went through with it. Their Time Patrol versions can also fuse into Xeno Gotenks.

Gohan and Trunks can fuse into Gohanks; this includes the normal Future incarnations and the Time Patrol versions. As a Cross Promotion with Dragon Ball Fusions, EX Gohanks was added to the gamenote EX Gohanks is a little different, since he's the result of Kid Gohan fusing with Kid Trunks, rather than their adult counterparts.

Xeno Trunks and Vegeta can Potara fuse into Xeno Vegeks.

Kid Buu can absorb Kibitoshin and Babidi; his Xeno incarnation can absorb Dabura or Xeno Janemba.

Demon King Piccolo can forcibly absorb Kami to achieve his full power.

Baby can merge with Janemba or Hatchiyack.

"Xeno" versions of canon characters. For the good guys (Goku, Gohan, Goten, Vegeta, Bardock) this means joining the Time Patrol alongside Trunks and the Supreme Kai of Time; naturally this also extends to their fused forms like Vegetto and Gotenks. For the bad guys, this means joining Towa's Time Breakers, either willingly (Dabura, Paragus) or via brainwashing (Bardock, Vegeta, Broly, Dende, and King Vegeta). Super Dragon Ball Heroes added a new spin on this with the Dark Dragon Balls scattering throughout time and merging with villains (Freeza, Cell, Kid Buu, Turles, Janemba, Lord Slug, Broly).

There are also Xeno versions of GT's Shadow Dragons, who were born from Towa's Dark Dragon Balls rather than the Black-Star Dragon Balls.

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